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• The Modesto Bee isan joc Tracy fireme By STUART GORDON Bee staff writer TRACY — Five firefighters were hospitalized early Friday after inhaling toxic chemical fumes while battling a blaze out- side the Holly Sugar plant. Local health officials and San Joaquin sheriff's investigators spent the day at the site trying to determine if the company violat- ed state laws governing storage of hazardous materials. The five firefighters began complaining of breathing prob- lems while trying to put out the blaze, which broke out shortly after midnight in a storage yard behind the sugar plant on Holly Drive. Tracy Rural Fire Chief Jim Hughes said he alerted the coun- ty Office, of Emergency Services when one of the firefighters col- lapsed. "It came in as a grass fire, but there was some kind of chemical fumes in the smoke," he said. The firefighters were treated at. Tracy Community Memorial Hospital. Four were released a short time later, but Fire Capt. Ron Cotta, the most seriously injured, remained in the hospital for ob- servation and was listed in stable condition late Friday. Hughes said Cotta went over to inspect a 30 -gallon metal drum that was near the fire when he suddenly collapsed. "The barrel only had a few gal- lons of a chemical in it. It wasn't full," Hughes said. Ron Baldwin, county Emergen cy Services coordinator, said th, material in the barrel was be lieved to be sulfuric acid, whicl can be lethal if inhaled. "The fire was generating a to of heat and apparently the acio was bubbling and emitting fumes," he said. The fire also released danger ous fumes from what appearei to be time sludge — a causti material that can cause respirate ry problems — stored in th, yard, he added. "There are investigators ou there now trying to confirm wha those substances are and wha they were doing there," Baldwii said. "If it is determined that ther was any violation by the compa ny in the way the material wa stored, we'll submit our report to the district attorney's office fo prosecution." Local health officials ordere Holly Sugar to hire America. Environmental Managemer. Corp. of Rancho Cordova t clean up the hazardous material at the site. The company also will be n quired to pay for soil and groun water sample tests to determir if there is any contamination. Holly Plant Manager Lou: Garcia said, "Right now we don know for sure if we had sulfur acid out there. We're in the pry cess of conducting; an investig tion, and we won't have aq, more to say until that's complet- ed." Workers inspec# site of fire thaioased toxic fumes at Holly Sugar plant in Tracy early Friday.